10 times Prince William and Kate Middleton ripped up the royal rule book

There’s no doubt about it, Prince William and Kate Middleton are one of the most well-loved Royal couples in the world – all eyes were on them when they tied the knot at Westminster Abbey on 29th April 2011.

Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to watch their (adorable) relationship go from university romance to family-of-four; who knows, maybe we’ll eventually see their love story play out in a later series of The Crown?

Below, we break down our favourite times the Duke and Duchess of Camvridge were just like us (well, sort of).

They both have a degree

Both Prince William and Kate Middleton are graduates of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where their famous love story first began. The pair lived in the same halls of residence, St Salvator’s Hall, and moved in the same circles, and soon enough their friendship became romance.

It wasn’t an arranged marriage

William and Kate’s partnership wasn’t orchestrated by a third party; they met as students while studying at St Andrews, with their friendship later turning into love.

Prince William picked Prince Harry as his ‘best man’

It’s tradition for a royal groom to choose a ‘supporter’ rather than a ‘best man’ for his wedding – when Prince Charles married Diana in 1981, he chose his brother Prince Andrew as his supporter.

According to Mail Online, a ‘best man’ is usually only appointed if somebody who isn’t royal marries a Princess. However, William chose to call his brother his ‘best man’ and was apparently the first Royal to do so.

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When they threw out the original wedding guest list

When you’re a royal, your wedding is probably going to be attended by a fair amount of people you’ve never met. But for Prince William, several hundred was too many.

He revealed in a documentary that he threw out the original guest list, containing almost 800 of people neither he nor Kate knew, on the advice of his grandmother, The Guardian reported in 2012.

‘There was very much a subdued moment when I was handed a list with 777 names on – not one person I knew or Catherine knew’ he said. ‘I went to her and said: “Listen, I’ve got this list, not one person I know. What do I do?” and she went: “Get rid of it. Start from your friends and we’ll add those we need to in due course. It’s your day.”‘

Top marks go to Queen Liz for that one.

Kate did her own make-up for her wedding

You heard us right. Apparently, Kate Middleton received make-up lessons from beauty pro Arabella Preston to help create her bridal look ahead of the Royal Wedding. But when the actual day came around, she reportedly did her wedding make-up herself. Pretty impressive stuff.

They live outside of London

It’s virtually unheard of in royal history for members of the Royal Family to live outside of London, but the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge do just that. They currently reside at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, just a stone’s throw away from the Queen‘s Sandringham Estate.

However, the Royal couple are planning on moving back to London in around six months time. They will reportedly live in Kensington Palace (along with Prince William’s brother, Prince Harry).

They’re affectionate in public

While it’s not Royal protocol to be showing too many PDAs, Prince William and Kate Middleton aren’t afraid to publicly show their love from time to time.

Not forgetting of course the time they broke tradition and had TWO kisses on the balcony rather than just one.

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They don’t always spend Christmas with the rest of the royals

Breaking Royal tradition, Kate and Wills decided to spend last Christmas with the Middletons at their home in Berkshire rather than Sandringham House with the Queen.

Their official photos are often from their own family album

Rather than tasking a Royal photographer with the job, the official photographs of Princess Charlotte released when she was six months old were taken by her mother; and the adorable snap of Prince George with his parents and the family dog were reportedly taken by Kate’s father, Michael Middleton.

Their dog is not a corgi…

Breaking away from his grandmother’s love of corgis, Prince William’s family’s dog, Lupo, is an English Cocker Spaniel. Aww.

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